DHHCAN Meeting Minutes Wednesday, November 7th 2018
Gallaudet University – Peikoff Alumni House (PAH)
(Thanks to Alumni Relations/GUAA for allowing DHHCAN to use the upper level of PAH) Chair Zainab Alkebsi called the meeting to order at 12:18 PM.
Roll Call
Voting Members – quorum not achieved ▪ Zainab Alkebsi, NAD
▪ Bernie Palmer, ALDA ▪ Eric Kaika, TDI
▪ Michelle Mulligan, CPADO ▪ Marcia Zisman, GUAA Organizational Partners
▪ Neal Tucker, RID ▪ David Bahar, CSD
o Ron Sutcliffe, CSD ▪ Dr. Caroline Pezzarossi, ADARA ▪ Tom Dowling, NVRC Guests ▪ Bill Mulligan Interpreters ● Jan Nishimura ● Jayne Tubergen Approval of Minutes
▪ The condensed version of the minutes of the meeting on October 5th were accepted as read.
.
Officers’ Reports: Chair’s Report
● Zainab welcomed Dr. Martha Sheridan and her students who observed our meeting. ● Update on DHHCAN and social media - our Facebook account does indeed exist. ● Our appreciation to Neal for providing lunch, especially for collecting everyone’s
individual orders for today’s meeting. Vice Chair’s Report
● ALDA will soon be electing new officers.
● The recent ALDA conference was a great event with many newcomers. ● TDI’s recent 50th anniversary celebration was applauded.
Secretary’s Report
● There was some discussion on the two versions of our meeting minutes - one with all details and a summary that will be made public. For today’s meeting, the secretary will send the complete version to those who attended the meeting to provide an opportunity to comment and make suggestions.
Treasurer’s Report
● Membership renewals have been sent out, to date payment received from 4 organizations. ● A new organization has applied to join DHHCAN - National Association of State
Agencies Serving the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (NASADHH).
● Lissette Wood of Deaf Women United (DWU) informed our Treasurer that the DWU board has applied to join DHHCAN. Since she lives in Florida, she will participate in our meetings using internet beginning in December.
● The 25th Anniversary Celebration final report will be complete once the final bill from the caterer is received.
● Standard procedure is for Sonny to ask representatives from organizations that have not paid their dues to follow up.
Committee Reports
❏ Civil Rights Protection and Enforcement:
❏ The NAD set up an ASL voter assistance hotline to provide resources related to the recent election - voting rights, process, where to vote, etc. A “FAQ” video was included. NAD plans to continue with the hotline for future elections. ❏ CSD provided information on voting rights and political information. CSD also
pushed a campaign encouraging people to share reasons for voting. There was a good response to the campaign. Also hosted a live discussion during election night.
❏ NAD will continue exploring how best to encourage our community to vote in the 2020 election. Both organizations are doing their best to emphasize the power of voting.
❏ Education: No report. ❏ Employment :
❏ The National Governors Association permitted the community to make a
statement to all of the governors. As a result of the recent election, there will be some governorship changes, so the best strategy is to make the statement in January/February when the new governors are in office.
❏ There is a new campaign #letuswork which is working to update federal
regulations related to certain jobs that currently require hearing tests (i.e., pilots, truck drivers, railroad engineers, lifeguards). Due to better technology, these types of jobs are now accessible to the deaf community. A petition is being put together that will be filed with the FAA requiring airlines to work on technology that will allow deaf commercial airline pilots
❏ To date, thanks to the efforts of the NAD, 618 deaf truck drivers have received waivers from the hearing requirement which enabled them to obtain their commercial driver’s licenses.
❏ It is hoped that these efforts will open up careers for many deaf people ❏ Health Care :
No report. ❏ Housing : No report.
❏ Telecommunications :
❏ FCC (or “the Commission”) suspects increased IP-CTS usage is a result of waste, fraud, and abuse, despite no evidence given. We believe increased use is the result of an aging population more aware of IP CTS. Eligibility criteria for IP CTS should remain non-burdensome for consumers. If the FCC moves away from self-certification, program assessments should be done by third-party
professionals as opposed to states. Easily accessible on and off buttons for captions should be present on IP CTS devices, Commission should ensure ASR quality is reliable in emergency situations.
❏ We support Sprint’s request (7/09/2018) for the Commission to clarify its
approach on allowing and evaluating IP CTS applications using automatic speech recognition (ASR). Our perspective is consistent with the record of support for Sprint’s petition from Hamilton Relay and CaptionCall, LLC
● The Declaratory Ruling was procedurally deficient and denied stakeholders an opportunity to comment;
● The Commission should articulate and adopt a technology-neutral
framework for certifying IP CTS providers that seeks notice and comment and ensures the quality, privacy, and reliability of new offerings
● The Commission should afford the opportunity for consumers to comment on all IP CTS certification applications
● Commission should adopt technology neutral requirements that all IP CTS services can satisfy robust standards of functional equivalency
❏ We support Commission’s decision to establish performance goals and standards for (IP- CTS). Functional equivalence, must be the first goal for IP CTS. We urge the Commission to establish broad principles for specific metrics for accuracy. Commission should adopt its suggestion to publish performance metrics achieved by providers, and develop a system where IP CTS users can rate quality of calls. Commission should ensure methods for measuring accuracy are performed by third parties, not IP CTS providers to self-measure/ report.
❏ Urge Commission to comply with D.C. Circuit’s conclusion: Commission must identify specific instances of or practices leading to waste, fraud, and abuse before enacting sweeping reforms. Leave current system of assessing user eligibility through self- certification alone. Commission’s proposed list of authorized third-party professionals is too narrow. States do not have the requisite data and financial resources to effectively analyze and administer IP CTS. The federal
government is better suited to oversee IP CTS. Commission should include intrastate revenues when calculating carrier contributions. Commission should stop shielding detailed provider cost data from public scrutiny when setting policy for rate methodology.
❏ Joint VRS Providers asked CGB to “immediately pause any further development of the VRS Access Technology Reference Platform (“VATRP App”) and
revisions being made to the associated technical specifications (“RUE Profile”).” Consumer Groups and RERC are not opposed to pausing development of VATRP App and the RUE Profile. Urge focus on:
(a) how the ultimate goal of mainstream interoperability can be accomplished; and
(b) the ability of the community to develop services integrated with VRS, just like the mainstream can develop VoIP services.
Consumer Groups and RERC agree that the VATRP App should be developed, deployed and used as a tool for VRS providers to ensure interoperability. We support Joint VRS Providers’ recommendation to transition RUE Profile from Commission’s vendor to an appropriate standards organization. We support development of encryption, automatic geolocation for 911 calls, skills-based routing and use of certified deaf interpreters, and seek a written commitment from Joint VRS Providers to work on each of these efforts so that they are not set back or harmed by pausing development of the VATRP App and the RUE Profile. ❏ Transportation:
❏ NAD was involved with commercial airline negotiations regarding captioning of entertainment during flights as well as live announcements made in the air and at boarding gates. A consensus agreement was reached for 100% captioning of in-flight entertainment but the NAD is continuing its advocacy for visual access to announcements. To that end, the Cabin Announcement Task Force was set up to figure out the technology needed to ensure the live announcements are accessible to deaf and hard of hearing travelers. A lot of time has been spent working with the airlines and manufacturers. Scheduling of meetings is difficult, the task force has not met since the summer break. The goal remain 100% access.
❏ General Motors (GM) will file a request for a waiver for self-driving cars. It was suggested that GM work with DHHCAN to review the waiver request before being submitted.
❏ Discussed the issue of cars with keyless starters being left running and deaf drivers unable to hear warnings. The consequences can be very serious - to date about 19 deaf people have died as a result. The Department of Transportation sent a letter to car manufacturers about this issue - so far no response so we need to follow up on it.
Old Business
▪ There was no old business. New Business
▪ There was no new business. Announcements
RID is expanding its staff in the member services department. So far, not many applications have been received so the announcement was revised. If we know of any particular place where to post the advertisement, let Neal know.
The next RID conference will be held at the Rhode Island Conference Center from July 7-11, 2019.
Recently a new option - Provisional Deaf Interpreter Credential (PDIC) is available for deaf interpreters. This is a bridge to full certification. There is no application fee for the PDIC and it will be available until the new testing is in place.
The announcement for the new RID CEO has not been put out yet. A timeline will be set up by the board. RID is being methodical with the process
NAD is exploring certification of agencies providing sign language interpreting services TDI will host its biennial conference on August 15-17, 2019 at Gallaudet University. TDI will soon host its annual holiday party.
The 50th Anniversary Gala was successful with over 500 people in attendance. ALDA will host a conference in October 2019 in Overland Park, Kansas
Association of Medical Professionals with Hearing Losses (AMPHL) and ADARA will host a joint conference in Baltimore June 1-4, 2019
NAD wrapped up its biennial conference this past July in Hartford, Conn. It was very successful with around 3,000 attendees. The NAD will host its next biennial conference in 2020 in Chicago. The National Leadership Conference will be held in 2019 in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Meeting was open to the observing students allowing them to ask questions and make comments. One student shared her own personal experience with leaving her keyless car running. Another student asked about the representation of people of color in DHHCAN. A comment was made about deaf truck drivers losing pay due to the digital tracking system used.
